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Bunches of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz DLC Coming to PS Vita

Hey everyone, Aaron here from SEGA. If you, like me, are a gamer with fond memories of Super Monkey Ball (Did anyone else play hours of Monkey Target?), and if you’re a PS Vita owner, you’ll be thrilled to learn that Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz is out now!

If you’re new to the SMB scene, the game is a skill-based platformer at heart with over 100 unique levels, but is also packed with multiplayer mini-games that take advantage of the PS Vita features. For the first time ever in a Monkey Ball game, we’ve also included a custom level creator that uses the PS Vita camera! And yes, Monkey Target, SMB’s most beloved mini-game (and perhaps most hilarious drinking game) is back in all its glory.

Fans will recognize all the tried and true elements of SMB that you’ve come to love, along with multiple difficulty settings: easy, medium, hard, and oh-my-god-this-is-amazingly-ridiculous. Well, we actually just call the last one “advanced,” but it’s so difficult it’s sure to give you hours of challenge. I’d actually bet maybe one in a hundred of you could complete it. Challenge accepted?

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz is out now in stores and on PSN. We hope gamers of all ages will have a great time with it, both offline and on!

This is just the start of things for SMB on PS Vita, as I can reveal that we have eight different packs of DLC, all on their way to you in the very near future. The DLC packs will include a number of special additions to the Level Creator mode, from special floor pieces to a giant Sonic the Hedgehog statue! (See above.)

We’d love to hear your thoughts and comments, so hit us up below and I’ll do my best to answer all the SMB questions you guys may have. Thanks in advance!

The bundle gives you 8x Packs of DLC for the level creator. Those include the Sonic Statue you see above, a large array of new floor pieces, a few throwbacks to other SEGA franchises (anyone remember Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine?), and also custom console obstacles, including a Genesis, Sega Saturn, and even a Dreamcast.

Complete DLC Bundle ($1.99) – All eight pieces of DLC for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz in a single bundle! Each DLC pack enhances and adds to the custom Level Creator, allowing you to create all-new maps like never before. From super-challenging level pieces to giant Sonic statues, and even including a SEGA Genesis for the truly old school gamers, this bundle is the ultimate collection for fans of Super Monkey Ball!”

Ah well, thanks for clarifying that both are in fact one and the same.

If you enjoy the older Monkey Ball games, or at least the first few, you’ll have a good time with Banana Splitz. We’ve added a lot to really make it unique from the games you already own, while also keeping in the best parts fans love. (Monkey Target, etc) The new online play and the level creator are probably two of my favorites.

To answer your question… in Japan, SEGA did release a couple Yakuza-series games for handheld on the PSP, but there’s no word currently about the Yakuza series arriving on handhelds here in the US.

Yo, dude. I’m in the U.S. and I already bought and downloaded the DLC pack you mention here last Tuesday. Not that I have a problem with that, it was a fair price and came with lots of great things.

I would say that in the future, you guys should probably make sure all those items come as a single download, or you at least change the images for each individual item so that it’s easier to discern between them in the download list. They all had the Sonic Statue image as their download icon (maybe this will be fixed for today’s update since it was apparently released a little earlier than it should have been).

Love the game, keep doing great things SEGA, and I look forward to your continued support for the Vita.

Too early to speculate, I think. But the Super Monkey Ball franchise has enjoyed a lot of popularity on various consoles in the past, including PS2. We appreciate all the Sony fans out there who also enjoy and are picking up SMB!

If I make any comment about PSO2, the Rappies will come find me and tie me up and hit me with spoons again… but I will say that I’m personally super excited for anything and everything related to the game.

So, no word from me, but I imagine that in time you’ll hear some more news from our Community team over at the SEGA Blogs!

I haven’t played all the Monkey Balls games, so maybe this has be done already, but has SEGA considered sticking some of its franchise characters inside balls and including them as playable characters? Perhaps they could be added as DLC? I know it’s called Monkey Ball, but why should the monkeys have all the fun?! Plus, it would be funny as hell to see Ryo Hazuki trapped inside a ball. It would serve him right for taking such a long hiatus from his quest.

The store says it apologizes for the wait, but it missed the train and then the traffic was a state. And if you get that lyrical reference, you get +5 cool imaginary cool points. The best part is, being imaginary, you can do whatever you want with them.

(But for reals, I’m just a SEGA guy, so I don’t actually know or have any control over the store itself updating.)

I’ve been a fan of the series for a while, primarily Jr. for the GBA and Deluxe for the PS2. I haven’t played any since Adventure because I really didn’t like the feel of the game at all. Is this one more like the older ones where it’s just puzzles? If so I’m very interested.

Yes – Banana Splitz is very much a move back to what made the originals great, and a lot of that was in simple but challenging puzzle-style levels. Over time, some of the SMB games also got easier – to the point that fans noted it and let us know they wanted to see that original, super-difficult style back. Both of these are things you’ll note in SMB: Banana Splitz.

To sum it up, this is essentially the best-of offering of what makes SMB great. You’ve got the old school difficulty for the hardcore fans, the mini-games like Monkey Target for the party mode fans, and all-new Level Creator and other modes for the next generation of PS VITA owners that are new to the franchise.

I wasted my high school lifeplaying PSO and 2 on gamecube :) it was the best! the 4 players split screen co-op! oooh how i miss that…now days with more powerful consoles we get less 4 players split screen games…. a shame indeed…

Heh, I was wondering why the DLC that just came out last week was going to get a PS+ discount. Oh well, it was worth the full price for me. Otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it.

Are you guys going to update the game with a patch for physical controls in the menus? I mean, I don’t mind touch menus, but I like having the option. Because if I’m into the game with physical controls, and then go into menus, I don’t want to have to switch.

At least you did touch menus good though. You can swipe, or tap to move. The way it should be. *glares at Uncharted: Golden Abyss*